Obama has no clear vision for NASA: letter to the editor

In his article on NASA Glenn Research Center on Monday, the normally thorough John Mangels neglected to provide some needed perspective. The struggles of the center reflect the larger reality of the political environment created by the current administration, which is starving space exploration and manned space flight in particular.

Former NASA administrator Michael Griffin and former Sen. George Voinovich recently stated publicly that the Obama team has no vision for space exploration and has not provided any leadership. Indeed, the administration has given conflicting stories on what the plan is for NASA overall to the point that the NASA budget and the Office of Management and Budget allocation for NASA are in conflict, and no one knows what the real numbers are -- other than they are shrinking.

President Barack Obama has canceled the shuttle, putting thousands out of work, and has a murky plan for a large payload rocket. But the effect is that we pay the Russians for lifts to the Space Station, and our erstwhile international partners are deserting NASA en masse.

George W. Bush's bipartisan Vision for Space Exploration was a long-term funding plan that made sense, and it is a plan that Mitt Romney believes in.

Doug Magill Cleveland

Magill is the communications director for the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County.

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